24 comments:

I exchanged several letters with Marguerite Henry when I was a child, and I wish I'd had the chance to meet her...fortunately, I've been lucky enough to meet a lot of the other authors that would be on my list!

Am I alone in not particularly wanting to meet the people who wrote the books I loved? Ever since I became a writer and met people who thought I was worth meeting I've become anxious that all my favorite writers might be as ordinary as I am. I'd like to hang onto my illusions, thank you.

I wish I had never met Eric Carle. He was very cranky at a book-signing and that's hard to forget. It's not like I asked him to sign a cocktail napkin or something. Now I'm sorry I ever went out of my way to get him to sign a book for my daughter who remains a big fan because I've never told her what a old crank he is.

I have to admit ... sometimes I like it when I hear of a cranky children's book author, And especially picture book authors/illustrators. It dispels the notion that we're walking around smiling all the time with bluebirds circling 'round our heads or something.

Yet I always feel like male authors and illustrators can get away with being cranks in a way women can't. First they get all the Caldecotts, now they take the complex emotions ...

You know, I've never been disappointed by the behavior of my favorite writers when I got to meet them. But I once made a total fool of myself trying to talk intelligently to Connie Willis, and that makes me a little more reluctant to introduce myself to my heroes.

About Me

I've been the editor in chief of The Horn Book, Inc, since 1996; previously editor of The Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books and a children's and young adult librarian. Received my M.A. in library science from the University of Chicago in 1982 and a B.A. from Pitzer College in 1978.